Improvement in cotton-harvester



D. c. HUBBARD,

Cotton .HarvSter. No. 105,211. I 4 a Patented July 12, I870.

waited git-airs:

wv am DUNCAN- GAMPBELL' HUBBARD, OF POINT oournn Pr; sn, L0U sIA' A.

115m. helluv -105,211, amt July 12, {1870.

' mnovmmu'r m, corron-amvnsa'sn' il'hesehedule referredto 'in these Letters Patonta nd making part of the s,

I, Dimes 4 CAMPBELL Heisman, offthe Parish of Point Ooupee,-in the State of'Lonisiana, have discovered a certain Improved Mode of Gathering or Harvesting Cotton by thrashingthe same; fromthe' bolls alter the stalks are pulled down orpulled up, of which the following is a specification.

ravages-of the caterpillar, substantially as hereinafter describedri- 7 f The absence, of leaves on the plants is a precedent condition to the use of my invention, for two reasons: first, because their presence, would fill theeotton with tiash,to-wit, the broken leaves themselves; and, see-v ondly, because 'so long as the leaves remain on the plants there will be immature bolls, \vhich .,would he lost by the cutting of the plants. After the leaves have fallen, from being killed by frost, or have been eaten.

up by the worms, there can be no such loss, foreixpe f rienee has long proved that the effect produced by the" loss of the leaves, no matter what the cause of such loss may have been, is to cause every boll at once to open that has jreacheda', condition even approximatingto maturity, so that there can be no loss whatever from the cutting of the stalks a few days alter the leaves a have gone from unopened bolls. On-.the contrary,

there is an advantage gained by cutting them at this time, to wit,'the clearing of the land at one and the same time with the harvesting of the cotton, instead of postponing, as is now universally theprac'tiee,-the

clearing operation until after all the cotton has been picked out. I

A very simple, and perhaps the best means to effect my object, is illustrated by the drawing.

This consists of what may be called a wagon, having a straight body, open. at top, and high sides and.

' ends A A, across which, and at each end and at the top thereof, for a little less than one-quarter of the length, as shown, wires 0 are str'etchedabont an inch or so apart. The middle section of the wagon is left c perfectly open and unobstructed.

With such a machine-outs equivalent, the harvest ing of cotton aiterthe leaves areofi'fthe plants, is al feeted in a very simple manner, and with astonishing rapidity. Nor is it necessary for more than three nae-n to' be employed in the operation," Morej-th'an; ion .1- men cannot .be employed with any advantage whati ever, The object of this invention is to save the cotton "annually lost by frost, insufficiency of hands, or the ;all'the cotton that is disengaged and thrownont'blf f the bolls by the shock will 'faiLinto the body of-rthe 'inachine b ween 1 the wires.

I have found y experienee,--'for. I harvested the whole of my crop of cotton last fall' andiwintei with one of-my'machines, that one blowiwill nearly alivays precipitate all of the best of the-cotton into'thebody of the, machine, and not unii'equently every fi rein:- every boll. If, howeverfthis should 'not be the.oase, whatever 'cotton'may remainjin'thebolls s'readil g thrashed out by striking thestalks iupon the-wire one blow being always sulficient, unlessv the 'bjolls not fully open and thecotton chngsgniith unusual te-F nacity therein.

When full, themachine is driven a the: gin-hbn'ise.

or drying-house, or othersuitable place of deposit,"

where it delivers the cotton, andthen returns into the field for anotherload.'-

' f I. clainras myinvention The means hereindeseribed .for harvesting cotto'ii after the leaves are off the plants, by' thrashing out i the same. consisting of the receptacle A A B, and

.wires 0 combined, substantially as described.

, DUNCAN O. HUBBKRD.

Witnesses:

EMILE H. LEVY, F. R. PLACE. 

